Again he pressed her hand.  The warmth of her body had raised his blood to fever-heat.

“When we met again, after I came back, it was by chance.  I refused to speak to him, but he followed me all along the street, and I didn’t know it till I was nearly home.  Then he came up again, and implored me to hear what he had to say.  I knew he would wait for me again in High Street, so I had no choice but to listen, and then tell him that there couldn’t be anything more between us.  And, for all that, he followed me another day.  And again I had to listen to him.”

Hilliard fancied that he could feel her heart beat against his arm.

“Be quick!” he said.  “Tell all, and have done with it.”

“He told me, at last, that he was ruined.  His wife had brought him into money difficulties; she ran up bills that he was obliged to pay, and left him scarcely enough to live upon.  And he had used money that was not his own—­he would have to give an account of it in a day or two.  He was trying to borrow, but no one would lend him half what he needed——­”

“That’s enough,” Hilliard broke in, as her voice became inaudible.

“No, you ought to know more than I have told you.  Of course he didn’t ask me for money; he had no idea that I could lend him even a pound.  But what I wish you to know is that he hadn’t spoken to me again in the old way.  He said he had done wrong, when he first came to know me; he begged me to forgive him that, and only wanted me to be his friend.”

“Of course.”

“Oh, don’t be ungenerous:  that’s so unlike you.”

“I didn’t mean it ungenerously.  In his position I should have done exactly as he did”

“Say you believe me.  There was not a word of love between us.  He told me all about the miseries of his life—­that was all; and I pitied him so.  I felt he was so sincere.”

“I believe it perfectly.”

“There was no excuse for what I did.  How I had the courage—­the shamelessness—­is more than I can understand now.”

Hilliard stirred himself, and tried to laugh.

“As it turned out, you couldn’t have done better.  Well, there’s an end of it.  Come.”

He walked on, and Eve kept closely beside him, looking up into his face.

“I am sure he will pay the money back,” she said presently.

“Hang the money!”

Then he stood still.

“How is he to pay it back?  I mean, how is he to communicate with you?”

“I gave him my address at Dudley.”

Again Hilliard moved on.

“Why should it annoy you?” Eve asked.  “If ever he writes to me, I shall let you know at once:  you shall see the letter.  It is quite certain that he will pay his debt; and I shall be very glad when he does.”

“What explanation did you give him?”

“The true one.  I said I had borrowed from a friend.  He was in despair, and couldn’t refuse what I offered.”